The Seminole County Sheriff's Office is hailing a group of good Samaritans as heroes after they helped save a woman from a sinking car that crashed into a Sanford retention pond Wednesday.
Video from a sheriff's helicopter, released Thursday, showed the group jumping into action in area of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Airport Boulevard. Deputies said the driver was alert but unable to get out of the car after it crashed.
As the helicopter arrived at the scene, the group was already helping the driver get out of her car. They backed up a flatbed pickup truck to the edge of the pond to get it as close as possible to the sinking car.
Deputies said one man jumped onto the truck's bed and pulled the driver to safety through her car's window. The car sank completely under the water a short time later.
The woman, Cynthia Garza, said she was driving to a mechanic to have her car checked for a steering problem, when she crashed.
Garza, 35, said she had dropped off her two daughters at home minutes earlier, and is thankful they weren't in the car when it crashed.
"It was definitely divine intervention, because they wanted to come with me," Garza said. "It was just a blessing I was the only person in the car, and they were able to get to me, because if it would have been a few seconds more, they wouldn't have been able to get me out of the water. So, I'm pretty much still in shock."
"The SCSO applauds these citizens for their quick actions and bravery!" the Sheriff's Office said in a post on Facebook, along with the helicopter video.